ABC Therapeutics Occupational Therapy Weblog

I have been talking about the implications of globalization on the occupational therapy profession for quite some time - it started off with blog posts here  and then a presentation at OT24VX in 2015 .  Then I gave the topic a whole chapter in my theory textbook in 2019 .  Then there were more blog posts here and here . In sum, I am uncertain if occupational therapy is a unitary global profession, although I now add this caveat: at least as understood in the publications of academics.  I add this caveat now because I am uncertain if the things that people in academia write about truly reflects actual practice in other countries.  I know that in the United States there is some academic scholarship that is highly relevant to practice, and other scholarship that leaves me wondering if I am an occupational therapist according to the way some suggest that practice should be constructed. So for example I read the Canadian Journal and wonder if everyday practitioners a...

  Please go here for my first thoughts on sustainability in occupational therapy around ten years ago . I received an email from a colleague who has been an advocate and published author on this topic asking me if I had the opportunity to revisit my thoughts on sustainability and occupational therapy. In fact I have continued to think about this, so I thought I would document my response here. Hi XXXXX-  Thanks for reaching out. I have previously and still believe that the study of climate change itself should remain within the purview of climate scientists. It seems to me that when it is co-opted by distal groups (including occupational therapy) that the issue tends to be used to promote a political social justice agenda. I continue to object to that because I don't know that occupational therapy can advance climate science itself and I find that the proposed actions advance very specific political ideologies and constricts the intellectual diversity within the profession. ...